As a church, we are called first to be a community.

We come as individuals, but we become the Church when we join with other Christ followers to form community.

Hope is this community’s chief trait, hope that Jesus Christ gives us. In this hope we see that our present, finite vision and experience of life is not all there is. We have hope that we will one day share in His perfected glory and that we can change for the better, reflecting His glory here and now.

Seeking the Father in worship,one anotherand the world

In our Sunday Worship we come intentionally into the Presence of Almighty God to offer Him our thanks for what He has done in the world and in us and to be fed by His Word and Sacraments.

Our community experience is shared, and Christ’s transforming power is manifest, in these three particular areas. These are the building blocks that make up our DNA as a church as we seek to walk in the way of Jesus, fulfilling the summary of his teaching in his “great commandment” and “great commission.”

Through worship, we seek to “love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength” (Matthew 22:37).

In our Sunday worship we come into the presence of the Almighty God to offer Him our thanks for what He has done in the world and in us.

His Word and Sacraments feed us; they encourage, empower, and equip us to go out and worship God in the world.

As we orient our lives around the total worship of God, His love changes us. God molds us into the redeemed people He purposed us to be.

Through intentional fellowship with one another, we seek to fulfill Christ’s call to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).

We are not a “Sunday morning only” crowd. By seeking God together, we develop intentional communities that serve our neighbors and the world. In this process we cultivate relationships that allow each other to speak the Word of God into each others’ lives.

The Bible uses the imagery of iron sharpening iron to describe how community refines us. This is the hot crucible where Christ’s life-renovating work happens. And as it happens, we see God’s glory reflected more and more in the faces of our community.

We seek to engage in the final work and mission that Jesus Christ left for His followers when he said, “go and make disciples for me from all the peoples of the earth” (Matthew 28:19).

This means we constantly look for where God is moving in the world around us, desiring to join Him in His work.

We are meant to proclaim – in word and deed – the Good News of God’s Kingdom and His reconciling Love in our community and throughout the world. While worship is the only activity of the Church that lasts into eternity, mission is the only activity that can only be done here and now. This is where we take the life changing work that Jesus is doing in our lives and share it with others, inviting them to come and be changed too and extend it to the world.

Engaging the Spirit’s transforming work

While worship is the only activity of the Church that lasts into eternity, mission is the only activity that can only be done here and now.

The Holy Spirit of God is alive and present in the life of the believer! We recognize that this journey of faith means that we cannot remain as we are. God takes us as we come…but He is most insistent that we not remain there. Following Jesus means a daily transformation as the Holy Spirit heals us from the wounds that have bound us and empowers us to break the habits of sin that we have allowed to hold sway in our lives. God’s vision of transformation is for the whole of his creation and not just for us as individuals. As men and women who have experienced this exciting work of the Holy Spirit first hand, we seek to share this good news of transformation with others as we share our lives with them and endeavor to see all of God’s works restored to their intended glory.

Journeying in the Way of Jesus

Regardless of your church background, if you’re baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and are committed to following him, we’d love for you to share Communion with us.

The dominant metaphor we choose to describe our community is that of journey or pilgrimage. It is a common theme throughout the Scriptures. God’s people the Israelites were taught to “walk in the way of Torah [God’s rules for living].” Likewise, the first Christians were called “followers of the Way.” When Jesus gathered his first disciples his invitation was simple, “Come follow me.” We are pilgrims on a journey down a specific path (the way of living life that Jesus talked about) and toward a specific destination – our true spiritual home in restored union with God in His Kingdom. None of us has “arrived” but we continue on together with the Holy Spirit as our guide and with one another as companions in this Way.

Affiliation

Christ Our Hope Anglican Church is part of the Diocese of the Rocky Mountains under the larger Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). Committed to “Ancient Faith, Global Relationships, Local Mission”, the Diocese of the Rocky Mountains works “to encourage existing churches and plant new churches that are soaked in the Gospel, bring restoration and life, and make disciples in an Anglican Context.”

Christ Our Hope was formerly under the Missionary District of the Anglican Church of Rwanda until the Diocese of the Rocky Mountains was formed. We continued to be shaped by our brothers and sisters in the Rwandan church, particularly our sister parish in Hanika, Rwanda.

Common Questions

How Should I dress to attend a worship gathering?

What is your worship gathering like?

The basic pattern of our worship gathering is shared by millions of Christians all over the world. The service has two main sections. In the first, we read from the Bible, listen to a sermon, and pray.

In the second part of our worship, we receive Communion—that is, we eat a little bread and wine, the food from Jesus’ final meal on earth, as a way to celebrate that Jesus died and rose again for us.

Regardless of your church background, if you’re baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and are committed to following him, we’d love for you to share Communion with us. If you’re still finding your way back to God, during Communion there are several ways you can respond to God: reflect on what you’ve heard; pray; or ask someone to pray for you (simply walk over to one of the prayer ministers at the back of the worship space). You can also come forward at Communion with your arms crossed across your chest to receive a blessing from the priest.

Everything you need to participate in worship will be printed out in a simplified worship booklet and a song sheet. We’ve tried to take away the awkward stress of fumbling around with too many resources.

What kind of music do you have?

A variety. Some of it was written centuries ago—some of it was written this year. All of the words are provided on a song sheet for your participation. If you aren’t comfortable singing you can always enjoy listening.

How long is the worship gathering?

Our worship usually lasts about an hour and a half. But it is very interactive with a lot of opportunities for movement mixed in.

What do you have for my children?

We welcome your children and celebrate them as members of the community. We have a Children’s Worship time during the sermon and prayers for kids K-4. There is also a nursery provided during this same time for infants and toddlers.

PHILOSOPHY OF MINISTRY

Visitors to Christ Our Hope may notice that we do not offer a lot of traditional “programming"; this is a deliberate philosophy we try to uphold. We believe that the kind of Kingdom ministry Jesus calls us to happens mostly outside the four walls of the Church building. Sadly, many Christians find themselves so busy with organized church activities throughout the week that they don’t have the time to connect with other members outside of those programs or more to the point, connect with unchurched friends, relations and co-workers. We believe that ministry to the Body is done when one member picks up the phone to call another and see how they are doing or provides a meal when a family needs it. And we believe that most people who are disconnected from God and from Church are going to come through the front door of a member’s home, not the front door of our building.

Similarly, we have a different approach to Children’s Ministry. We believe that the primary place children are made disciples of Jesus is their own homes as they see their parents model what it means to follow Jesus. We also believe that the Christian liturgy (the prayers and order of worship we use each week) is the primary tool the Church can offer a family in aiding in this work of disciple making. We believe our children are most impacted by learning to worship Jesus by…well worshipping. This is why we put such an emphasis on worshipping together as families and with the whole Parish community. As such, we do not offer a children’s ministry program that begins when families walk in the door on a Sunday morning and ends when they are ready to leave. Children spend the majority of their Sunday morning worshipping with the whole gathered community, participating in the singing, the prayers, listening to Scripture read aloud and participating in the Lord’s Table. We do however acknowledge that it is important for children to hear a Bible message appropriate to their own developmental level. So, during the sermon and some of the liturgy that immediately follows it, children are dismissed to the children’s ministry classrooms to learn together in a way that we trust will plant the Good News of Jesus deep in their hearts.